Sprint's $199 HTC EVO 4G Gets Release Date of June 4 182
Chameleon Man writes "The first 4G phone ever to be released, the HTC EVO 4G, announced back in March, has finally been given a release date of June 4. Along with the release date, Sprint has provided information on phone plans and pricing. From Engadget: 'Unfortunately, there's a downside to all this: customers will be paying a mandatory (as confirmed to us by Sprint reps) $10 per month "Premium Data add-on" on top of their plan — ostensibly for the privilege of enjoying WiMAX when they're in a Sprint 4G market — and the 8-device Wi-Fi hotspot feature runs an extra $29.99 a month, which Sprint is quick to point out is half what you'd pay for a dedicated mobile broadband account.' In 4G areas, it might be a formidable option for anyone who hates their ISP *ehem* Comcast *ehem.*"
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:They aren't charging. (Score:4, Informative)
Not quite.. (Score:4, Informative)
The summary states it's $199. Not really true.
Not just the $10/mo fee for data.. but..
A) $100 Mail-In Rebate (so $299). And remember how much fun trying to claim a Mail-In Rebate is (and the lengths that they'll go to deny such claims?)
B) You have to be able to switch phones.. for those of you who still have an agreement length date.. if you really want it.. throw in an early termination fee.. ($449)
C) Plus you're locked in for two years.
Re:Still Cheaper Than Ridiculously Expensive AT&am (Score:3, Informative)
SERO usually doesn't get any of the good phones.
Re:Still Cheaper Than Ridiculously Expensive AT&am (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Still Cheaper Than Ridiculously Expensive AT&am (Score:1, Informative)
That link isn't for SERO, it is Everything Plus. SERO has been closed down for new signups and is only for those who had it while it was around and have been grandfathered in.
SERO users are stuck with WinMo phones, but for $30 a month ($34.14 after taxes for me) it is hard to think any phone is worth the nearly $400 additional annual cost of service.
Re:No... (Score:0, Informative)
I don't think you would be able to do 1 TB (or did you really mean Tb?) in one month even if you were downloading at max speed 24/7. I think that's why they can say "unlimited" because you are being throttled by the basic parameters of the service.
Re:No... (Score:1, Informative)
I work with the team that handles usage. They want to enforce the caps everywhere, but they are so discombobulated that it's taking forever. Comcast sucks outside and in, basically. Be happy you have what you have now, they are working diligently if somewhat retardedly to restrict you as soon as possible.
Re:No... (Score:3, Informative)
Max speed = 6Mbps according to their website, so 24 * 31 * 3600 * 6 = 16070400 Mb, which is well beyond 1Tb and even more than 1TB.
$30 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Still Cheaper Than Ridiculously Expensive AT&am (Score:5, Informative)
Hardly. I just just checked prices (because I'm out of contract with AT&T and thinking of upgrading to a smart phone), and AT&T will charge me $130/mo for two iPhones while Sprint will charge me $128/mo for two Droid phones - and that's without the 4G tariff.
Not really a competitor to land-based data access (Score:3, Informative)
"In 4G areas, it might be a formidable option for anyone who hates their ISP *ehem* Comcast *ehem.*"
Not really... I tried a 4G service out last week and the latency was so horrible that it wouldn't matter if it had a 100Mbit transport, it'd still be slow as all hell and basically useless.
Latency to the gateway was between 75 and 125ms. That's horrible every day of the week.
Re:Buzzkill (Score:3, Informative)
Go ask them how many buy $600 smart phones without a contract rather than $100 phones with a contract.
At least in Finland, most of the people. Why would you want to buy a more expensive (in the end) locked down phone than cheaper phone and freedom to go with any operator? (or change operator after 6 months or change phone whenever you want). I've seen a few friends buy a phone with contract but that's usually a combination of poorness and lower education.
Re:Still Cheaper Than Ridiculously Expensive AT&am (Score:3, Informative)
ok, but that's apples and oranges
that price with AT&T is for 550 minutes of talk, sprint gives 1500
sprint also gives all mobile class (to any carrier) free and nights/weekend from 7pm
you'd also need to add $30 to AT&T for unlimited texting and $10 a month per phone
for navigation. Then if you have more than 2 lines AT&T charges $10
for the extra line but then would still need the $30 data and $10 nav fees
where Sprint just charges $20 with all data/text/nav/any other feature included